An Associationist Model of the Paranoid Process: Application of Phase Transitions in Spreading Activation Networks

We propose an associationist model of the paranoid process in which the initial paranoid state is characterized by the formation of cognitive associations among temporally contiguous perceptions, an internally generated explanatory schema is produced to give meaning to the associations, and the schema then becomes learned and perpetuated as a crystallized delusion. We suggest that the genesis of the initial paranoid state can be modeled by a spreading activation network of learning and memory whose parameters of activation spread, including connectivity and relaxation rate, are varying over time. Moreover, recently demonstrated abrupt phase transitions that occur in such networks as a function of connectivity provide a particularly useful means for understanding the process by which an initial paranoid state becomes crystallized into a fixed delusion.